Update LensType and LensID fields

[niels123]

I thought I managed to add a new -MacroMagnification tag to my CR2 files, but now I keep getting errors.


"C:\ExifTool\exiftool.exe" -wm wcg -MacroMagnification="9.7" -m -overwrite_original_in_place -P -srcfile %%d%%f.CR2 -r K:\z -v0 > T:\exiflog.txt


Outputs:

Code Select Expand


Warning: Not creating MacroMagnification


If I try to modify the tag in a file where it already exists, the value does change, but not to the one I specified. Some examples:

6.3 -> 6.16884330163176
7.3 -> 7.21000370088664
8.3 -> 8.42688828763869
9.3 -> 9.34021798848996
9.7 -> 9.84915530675933

It doesn't make a difference if I add the -n argument.

How do I create the new tag and add the proper value?
Help? 

[Phil Harvey]

You can't add or delete makernote tags from an image.  Is this a new makernote tag you are trying to add?

- Phil

[niels123]

In exiftoolgui, "MacroMagnification" is listed under MakerNotes. However, I'm pretty confident that I have added the tag to a (I think 5D III) raw file that was created without a lens attached to the body. If the MP-E65 is attached, the tag is already there in the raw file, so it should also be possible to add it with exiftool, right?

-Update: if I choose in Exiftoolgui "Copy metadata from single file" with a no-lens-attached-CR2 selected and choose an "MP-E-CR2" and choose to copy *all* exif information or only the makernote tags, it works fine.

What I'd like to do, is only add the MacroMagnification tag without adding or modifying all the other tags.

[Phil Harvey]

Sorry, this can't be done.  From the exiftool application documentation:

           2) In general, MakerNotes tags are considered "Permanent", and may
            be edited but not created or deleted individually.  This avoids
            many potential problems, including the inevitable compatibility
            problems with OEM software which may be very inflexible about the
            information it expects to find in the maker notes.

- Phil

[niels123]

 

Is there a safe & quick way to copy all metadata into a new raw file and then change back everything that was already there (e.g. date, time, lensinfo, etc.) and leave the MacroMagnification tag intact?

I did a comparison with two raw's from the same camera but with a different lens (135L vs MP-E). Some tags that may be quite important are different, but these ones can also be changed back to their original values, right?

The ones that look important for the rest of the raw file are:
Preview Image Start
Sub Sec Time
Sub Sec Time Original
Sub Sec Time Digitized
Thumbnail Offset
Strip Offsets
File Index

Also, as  "perminant backup" I'd like to keep the entire exif block from each original, unmodified raw as an .exif file. In exiftoolgui there's an option to create these .exif files from all raw's in a single directory. I'm struggling to get it to work from the command line, so I can do it recursively for many directories at ones.

[Phil Harvey]

I would have to answer "no" to that question.  There is just far too much as-yet-unknown metadata in RAW files.

- Phil

[niels123]

I would have to answer "no" to that question.  There is just far too much as-yet-unknown metadata in RAW files.

- Phil

Oke. But how do I extract all the exif data als an .exif file. In exiftoolGUI there is an option in the menu, but it works only for a single directory. I'd like to do it recursively and cannot find it in the manual or with google.

[Phil Harvey]

There are various ways to do this.  Here is one:

exiftool -o %d%f.exif -r DIR

- Phil

[niels123]

Thanks a lot for the great help!